Innovation

Retaso gathers donated textile waste from local fashion companies and the community. The founders started the business with the aim to “address the problem of plastic & textile waste and innovate tote bags that are representative of Philippine landmarks and heritage sites.” The material is transformed into tote bags by “providing opportunities to communities of friends they support in the Philippines' Pasig, Caloocan, and Bulacan”.

According to the founders, they aim to be “more responsible to revive the life-cycles of the ethically sourced plastic & textile waste.” To create the tote bags, each plastic pocket or lining is carefully arranged by hand and pressed with an electric iron. To create ready-to-sew layers that are appealing and robust enough for regular usage, their manufacturers “spend hours blending various shapes of plastic bags.” The manual heating method allows any donated plastics, regardless of type, to be utilized. The difficulty of combining many material elements into a single product makes it unique and one-of-a-kind. Because of this time-consuming process, flaws are embraced as two tote bags are never the same.

Being cut and sewn, various textile waste donations from partner brands are categorized by color and size. A group of local artisans in Bulacan also hand-draw, hand-cut, and then embroider each patch on the bags. Retaso also “exclusively sends out orders on Saturdays of each week and documents the energy used to further minimize our carbon footprint.”

Retaso's ultimate objective is to create items that may be utilized regularly to minimize waste. A total of 1.78 yards of textile waste and 72 pieces of recycled plastic are used to make each bag. To prevent waste from being a byproduct of their advocacy, customers are encouraged to return their Retaso products rather than discard them to close the loop. Retaso aims to keep the components and scraps out of our local environments by “continuously repurposing and experimenting with different functions for them.”

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Inspiration

While performative activism remains prevalent in many known brands that continue to greenwash by making false promises about sustainability, the founders of Retaso were drawn to develop an enterprise grounded in transparency, that is, "not fooling people with the idea that Retaso is a sustainable brand merely for the heck of it or as a trend. We took transparency as an opportunity to not only prove genuine sustainability but to show people an alternative to harmful materials– how we can collectively do more to lessen textile waste." This is in contrast to how "a lot of known brands, when they make promises for sustainability, it's usually just to show a sense of responsibility to attract more customers." the founders state. Being heavily moved by the current climate crisis, the founders of Retaso set on a primary goal – saying that "it's all about creating a better environment for our future and for generations to come." Retaso was founded to introduce a new culture of consumerism through commonplace products for everyday life that do not endanger the health of the environment, "to prove that there is a cleaner alternative to common staple products." As an enterprise founded on an environmental cause, the founders continued to share that "Retaso was born from the statistic that only 1% of textile waste is recycled or dealt with effectively. We realized that textile waste is a less popular environmental issue that people need to know more about and that we had the means to do something about it." For that reason, "awareness, action, and solution for textile waste is essentially what lies at the heart, purpose, and inspiration behind our business."

Overall impact

With the innovations and sustainability practices of Retaso, the brand has significantly contributed to decreasing the amount of textile waste in the country. They continue to raise the standard for businesses to exhibit transparency in every step of the business process as they emphasize the importance of closing the loop. As mentioned, Retaso is "more on protecting the environment and ethical manufacturing – showing that there is a possible way to create products that can help the environment." Their vision to create circularity through collaboration and community involvement has increased awareness of the need for urgent environmental action, especially among social media users or the younger generation that seems to severely feel the consequences of the ongoing environmental crisis. Currently, they have over 2,700 followers on Instagram alone. Retaso also utilizes different mediums to share its advocacy, including partnerships with various brands and podcasts called "Retaso Radio" to further discuss the role of slow fashion in sustainability. The owners believe that Retaso's impact focuses "more on the influence that the product shows."

Aside from those mentioned above, Retaso partners with a local community of seamstresses. These individuals are thoroughly involved in the production process of each Retaso bag, as they believe in the power of empowering our fellow Filipinos. Each part of the bag is recycled and handmade with the utmost care by the seamstresses. Because these are considered labor-intensive, Retaso ensures that each one is well taken care of and valued. This includes providing and exposing them to a multitude of opportunities as Retaso has partnered with multiple brands. These then make a massive impact on the lives of the local community because they are given a livelihood wherein they are assured of just treatment. Essentially, at the heart of Retaso is the desire to improve the planet's state, which is extremely evident in every action they do moving forward.

Business benefit

In terms of employees, Retaso has provided numerous job opportunities to the Filipino market. Retaso is currently partnering with several local seamstresses to construct their bags. Because of this, they can give other Filipinos a chance to practice their skills and talents. Retaso empowers local communities and at the same time involves themselves in efforts to save the environment and Filipino culture. Moreover, they takes into consideration the well-being of its employees. They can build a collaborative community where innovation toward repurposing and redesigning textile waste is made possible. In particular, Retaso has four manufacturers located in Pasig and Bulacan where they stated in the interview that “they do not promote a fast-paced process when it comes to production which is usually seen in fast fashion companies”. Retaso makes sure that they have breaks for their employees and partners. This helps them create a healthy working environment while still ensuring that they can produce quality products for the customers. It also allows them to prioritize the well-being of their staff as they truly value their employees.

Concerning Retaso’s products and partners, they have opened new opportunities to local businesses in the Philippines since Retaso is collaborating with businesses to provide them with scrap fabric for their products. Instead of wasting the extra fabric, these materials could be reused. Retaso can extend awareness to these local businesses by being more environmentally conscious.

Additionally, they create new products that are unique in the industry. Restaso’s bags are created from recycled materials, specifically textile waste sourced ethically from local businesses. The business revives these old materials into a fashionable yet sustainable product. With this, Retaso takes pride in the Filipino culture and simultaneously relays important messages that we consumers should be aware of. For instance, they said in the interview that their first collection was about the Tubbataha Reefs in the Philippines. The Tubbataha Reef, located in the center of the Sulu Sea and is southeast of Puerto Princesa, Philippines, has 10,000 hectares of coral reef, which is home to hundreds of marine species and is known for its rich biodiversity of marine life (Tubbataha Reefs National Park, 2021a). However, the state of the Tubbataha Reef is currently threatened, and the quality of its coral reefs continues to decline. According to Tubbataha Reefs National Park (2021b), marine debris is one of the main issues the Tubbataha Reef is experiencing due to the large amount of plastic waste that is improperly disposed of, causing death to marine animals and harm to the coral reefs. With this, the Tubbataha Reef collection of Retaso can make consumers more aware of how plastic waste largely contributes to the damage to large bodies of water and ocean life. Retaso can effectively highlight relevant issues plaguing the Philippines and inspire consumers to take action.

Due to the strategies and innovation that Retaso has utilized, the business was able to bring several benefits to the business industry and Filipino community. They continuously seek innovation while considering their impact on others. With this in mind, Retaso can live out its business's SDG goals, mission, and vision.

References:

Tubbataha Reefs National Park. (2021a). Location and biodiversity. Tubbataha Reefs National Park. http://tubbatahareefs.org/

Tubbataha Reefs National Park. (2021b). Marine debris: A growing concern in Tubbataha. Tubbataha Reefs National Park. http://tubbatahareefs.org/marine-debris-a-growing-concern-in-tubbataha/

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Social and environmental benefit

Plastic and textile waste has been a rampant issue in the Philippines. Over 2.7 million metric tons of plastic are found to be used in the country, where an estimated 7,000 metric tons are thrown each day, and around 20% is said to end up in the ocean (Cariaso, 2022). This poses a massive problem in our country since people are becoming more irresponsible with the use of plastic. Furthermore, around 92 million tons of text waste from the clothing industry is disposed of annually worldwide (Igini, 2022). These ongoing problems have harmed several aspects of our life, especially the environment, ecosystems, and marine life.

Retaso contributes to the betterment of society and the environment by lessening the amount of textile waste produced by the fashion industry. They stated that they provide consumers with "versatile, long-lasting, local, and eco-friendly products that people can use daily." These bags are made from scraps of textiles donated by local businesses and weaved by local seamstresses from Caloocan, Pasig, and Bulacan. It shows how Retaso can raise consumer awareness by making them more environmentally conscious and, at the same time, allowing them and other local businesses to be part of taking action. The founder shared that "sustainability should not be a trend." Retaso can fully integrate efficient and sustainable actions, such as its circularity model, to prevent the problem of plastic and textile waste from continuously happening. Building a better place for the present and succeeding generations and transforming their business processes to combat plastic and textile waste's detrimental effects on our lives and environment.

References:

Igini, M. (2022). 10 stunning fast fashion waste statistics. Earth Org. https://earth.org/statistics-about-fast-fashion-waste/

Cariaso, B. (2022). PH dumps 2.7M tons of plastic waste into the sea. The Manila Times. https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/10/15/news/ph-dumps-27m-tons-of-plastic-waste-into-the-sea/1862299#:~:text=THE%20Philippines%20generates%20at%20least,the%20plastic%20packaging%20they%20produce.

Interview

Natasha “Tsor” Soriano, Director & Creatives + Art Direction